NEC Invitational: Ernie Els has set his sights on an improved putting display at this week's WGC-NEC Invitational in Akron, Ohio after the disappointment of tying for fourth at the US PGA Championship on Sunday.
The WGC-NEC Invitational, the third WGC (World golf championships) event of the year, starts at Firestone Country Club today.
Despite completing his fourth top-10 finish at this year's majors, South African Els three-putted from around 80 feet at the last to cost himself the chance of joining Vijay Singh, Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco in a play-off for the title.
"I got myself into the mix again at the weekend, but I just wasn't able to finish the job off," the world number three said. "It's very, very disappointing.
"I'll have to shrug off the disappointment of the PGA in a hurry and set my sights on the things that matter, like working on my putting and getting a bit more consistency on the greens.
"This is the part of my game that's letting me down at the moment - not every day, but often enough to do some harm to my chances of winning.
"Last week was a tough week, mentally more than anything, but there's no time to recuperate.
"The NEC Invitational is one of the WGC events which count on both sides of the Atlantic and Firestone is one of those golf course that I enjoy playing a lot."
Els has been one of the form players at the 2004 majors. He ran Phil Mickelson close at the US Masters before finishing second and was in contention for the US Open at Shinnecock Hills before ballooning to an 80 in brutal last-day conditions, ending up in a share of ninth.
In last month's British Open at Royal Troon, he missed a birdie putt from eight feet on the 72nd hole before being edged out by American Todd Hamilton in a play-off.
Darren Clarke starts his defence tomorrow determined to keep hold of the one title he has to his name at the moment and to make up for the disappointment of last week's 13th place finish at Whistling Straits.
He said: "This is one of my favourite courses and it's in magnificent shape, as it always is. When you get here and see all the pictures of the previous winners it's a 'Who's Who of Golf'.
"There's no extra pressure being the defending champion. I had a fantastic week last year and it's always good to come back to a course you've played well on in the past.
"There are some courses that seem to fit my eye better than others and this is certainly one of them. I'm just really keen to go out, start again and hopefully have as good a week as I did last year."
With Sergio Garcia missing the halfway cut last week, Padraig Harrington has again been left as the only European in the current world top 10.
The Dubliner is also seeking his first win of the year, however, and after also starting promisingly came only 45th last week after a closing 78.
Harrington was working with American mind coach Bob Rotella at Whistling Straits, but then found himself thinking too much about it.
"My emphasis was on focus, so when I hit a bad shot that's what I blamed," he said. If I'd been working with Bob (swing coach Bob Torrance) I'd have blamed it on my swing.
"You would think I would know better, but you can't switch your focus on and off like a light. I've suffered a lot of pain over the years from it and I still don't learn - maybe I need a little hit, like a horse being whipped when I do it wrong.
"But everybody else does it - don't think I'm unusual here.
"There is nothing wrong with my game. I had 22 birdies, which I think was more than anybody, and not many of them were on the par fives because I played them badly.
"I just need to tighten up. On the range I've got sucked into hitting the ball really well when all I want to do really is hit the ball really close.
"I've always played my best when I am struggling a bit. This is a complicated game and I am a complicated soul - I just wish two complicateds would make it simple."
Meanwhile, the battle for the world number one position intensifies between Woods, US PGA champion Vijay Singh and Els.
Woods has been there since August 1999 and for a record 332 weeks in all, but if Singh beats him this week - or even ties if Woods is outside the top 10 - then the Fijian will go top for the first time in his career, while a top-three finish might do it for Els depending on where the other two finish.(US unless stated, all times Irish)
14.35 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Chad Campbell
14.45 - Jerry Kelly, Vijay Singh (Fij)
14.55 - Davis Love, KJ Choi (S Kor)
15.05 - Fred Funk, Thomas Levet (Fra)
15.15 - Stephen Leaney (Aus), Joey Sindelar
15.25 - Jesper Parnevik (Swe), Jim Furyk
15.35 - Angel Cabrera (Arg), Tommy Armour
15.45 - Brad Faxon, Niclas Fasth (Swe)
15.55 - Charles Howell, Nick Price (Zim)
16.05 - Tiger Woods, Peter Senior (Aus)
16.15 - Justin Leonard, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe)
16.25 - Stuart Appleby (Aus), Darren Clarke (N Ire)
16.35 - Shaun Micheel, Paul McGinley (Ire)
16.45 - Mark Hensby (Aus), Jay Haas
16.55 - Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn), Jonathan Kaye
17.05 - Kenny Perry, Tim Clark (Rsa)
17.15 - Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Kirk Triplett
17.25 - Chris DiMarco, Phillip Price (Wal)
17.35 - Robert Allenby (Aus), Todd Hamilton
17.45 - Sergio Garcia (Spa), Chris Riley
17.55 - Alex Cejka (Ger), Andrew McLardy (Rsa)
18.05 - Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Joakim Haeggman (Swe)
18.15 - Paul Casey (Eng), SK Ho (S Kor)
18.25 - Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Phil Mickelson
18.35 - Mark O'Meara, Scott Drummond (Sco)
18.45 - Adam Scott (Aus), Zach Johnson
18.55 - Lee Westwood (Brit), Craig Parry (Aus)
19.05 - Scott Verplank, Carlos Franco (Par).
19.15 - Bernhard Langer (Ger), Mike Weir (Can)
19.25 - Rod Pampling (Aus), John Daly
19.35 - Colin Montgomerie (Sco), JL Lewis
19.45 - Steve Flesch, Trevor Immelman (Rsa)
19.55 - Bob Tway, Barry Lane (Eng)
20.05 - Pierre Fulke (Swe), Stewart Cink
20.15 - Padraig Harrington (Ire), Brett Rumford (Aus)
20.25 - Fred Couples, Ernie Els (Rsa)
20.35 - Peter Lonard (Aus), David Toms
20.45 - Luke Donald (Eng), Stephen Ames (Tri)
